Madelyn Moore has set her sights on representing Bermuda at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.

The University of Northern Colorado junior is scheduled to compete in two qualifiers, where she hopes to achieve the Olympic standard in the 50 metres freestyle.

Moore will launch her qualifying bid at the ISCA East Elite Showcase Classic to be held at the North Shore Aquatic Complex in St Petersburg, Florida, from March 31 to April 3.

“My coach [Lisa Ebeling] and I are now working towards the ISCA Meet, which is a qualifier for the Olympics,” she said. “At that meet I’m doing the 50 free, 50 back, 50 fly and the 100 free. I’m just doing the other 50s to try and get national records.

“After that, we have another meet in Florida [Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas Tokyo Qualifier at the Orlando Health National Training Centre] from April 29 to May 2, which is also an Olympic qualifier.”

The A qualifying standard in the women’s 50 free stands at 24.77 and the B standard at 25.51.

“The 50 freestyle, specifically sprint swimmers, it is such small details that you have to focus on in order to get such a tiny gain,” Ben Smith, the national coach, said.

“I know that Maddy has really been working hard, trying to make adjustments so that she can get faster; not just for her school, but hopefully to be performing for Bermuda when we are able to get back to full swimming.”

Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed for the first time in event’s history. The Games will now be held from July 23 to April 8 and will involve more than 11,000 athletes from 206 nations competing for honours in 33 sports.

Moore, 20, will go into the Olympic qualifier with her confidence soaring, having been named this week as the Western Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Year.

The prestigious award capped a dominant season which saw the Olympic hopeful secure multiple gold medals and records competing for her university.

“It’s such an honour to named WAC Swimmer of the Year and it’s really just given me the momentum to keep going,” she said. “I am really just training my heart out until the next two qualifying meets, which is awesome. I’m just really excited for them and feeling pretty good, honestly.”

Moore stamped her authority at the WAC Championships at Dixie State University in Utah last month, when she won gold medals in the 50 metres freestyle and 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay and also broke her school’s record in the 100 backstroke twice during the same session.

She now holds the pool records in the 50 and 100 freestyle at Dixie State, while her time of 48.04 in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay was the fastest split in the WAC in the past decade.

The Sharks Swim Club member also made her presence felt competing at January’s Air Force Quad Meet hosted by the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where she won gold in the 50 and 100 freestyle to help her university clinch state honours.

While Moore has enjoyed overwhelming success in the pool, her season has not been without its share of challenges owing to the global pandemic.

“It’s been like a rough year, definitely the first semester because we had multiple quarantines on our team,” she said.

“I wasn’t feeling too psyched about the rest of the season. But after coming back from Christmas we’ve had very consistent training and I’ve just been having such a good time this season just because there is like such a lack of pressure.

“It’s just such an abnormal year, which is awesome because when I’m not stressed, I swim faster.”